The Fiscal Cliff: Watch and Play Along at Home

For the third week in a row, I will be discussing the nation’s fiscal challenges on C-SPAN’sWashington Journal, this Sunday at 7:45 a.m. (Here is the first week, and here is the second.) Stan Collender, who among other things writes the Fiscal Fitness column in Roll Call and the Capital Gains and Games blog, will again be my co-panelist.

One thing that might help you get ready for another fun hour of viewing would be to play The Concord Coalition’s budget exercises to see how you would replace the fiscal cliff.

Our online exercise, The Federal Budget Challenge, is a great single-player experience. If you want fun for the whole family gathered for the holidays, you can print out our pen-and-paper exercise Principles and Priorities. In either case, your starting point is the Congressional Budget Office projection for deficits over the next 10 years, assuming we go over the fiscal cliff.

Keeping in mind that this projection, while assuming lower deficits, also means a recession in the beginning of 2013, you can decide what policy choices you would make on taxes and spending. You can either increase deficits or cut them even more during the 10-year budget window. You can do so by making choices in all areas of the budget.

If you are working with a group, majority votes rule, and you can see whether you fare any better than the politicians in Washington at making compromises.

Good luck, see you Sunday, and Happy New Year!

Late Update:Here is the link to the third Washington Journal appearance, Sunday, December 30.